The Halo-Halo Bistro

By Zack Chavez Just before enlisting in the U.S. Coast Guard in the Philippines in 1959, My barkada (my close friends, all guys) and I got together one evening at the neighborhood basketball court drinking San Miguel beer. It was a farewell get together as I was leaving the next day for Sangley Point. We were having a great time singing Elvis songs at the accompaniment of Carlito’s ukulele. Carlito was good. He had taught me the chords to play Elvis’ “Loving You”. My friends were sad that I was leaving the barkada, and yet they thought it was a great opportunity for me to meet and date American girls, which they could only do in their dreams. Boy Fernandez reminded me to write often and to tell them about my social life in the United States. My first report to Boy Fernandez was about my experience in Los Angeles on my way to St. Petersburg by Greyhound bus. I was invited by a pen-pal, Barbara, to spend a few days with her family. I was introduced to Barbara by her brother, John, ...

By Christine Marie Chavez Once upon a weekend pass, a Filipino sailor and Floridian lass, Who had fallen in love not knowing what’s in store, tried to marry, how outrageous! Different races, youthful ages. But their love was raging, raging too much to ignore. Driving north they fled unjust laws; that’s not what the laws are for; They wanted only each other, and nothing more. Walterboro,SC Courthouse On the tenth of January, the sailor’s race began to vary, The marriage license in South Carolina tells the score. Suddenly, he was Hawaiian; it did not really feel like lyin’. They sought only freedom, freedom to love whom they adore. The couple, Zack and Louise, then bound to the core, Pledged in 1962 to love each other forever more. Back to St. Pete duty station, where their life was no vacation, Though they never really thought of themselves as being poor; Garage apartment, tiny bed; We will just make do, they said, And put the frig on the porch outside the kitchen door, And the dining...

by: Dr. Herm C. Valenzuela Lately, there has been much talk about a massive military build up. I was just wondering for whom does these mighty armada of steel and guns toll? The USSR is history and China’s regular military spending is about $160B a year (half of which the U.S. owes hence is “paying”) is far less than the Pentagon’s base budget of about $500B annually according to a recent 84-page Pentagon report. It has about 1,680 fighter jets compared to about 3,000 in the USAF and Navy and yet “China presently focuses on its desire for greater mobility to conduct operations at a greater distance from its mainland.” (Source: Air Force Times: Aug. 14, 2011). China is clearly “projecting” some kind of intention. Spratley Islands maybe with our potential $50B yearly revenue? India and South Korea are now becoming players in the neo-economic “war” without show-casting any modern military hardware! Our European allies are “limping” while the Middle East is a powder keg! The nation...

At the Cow Mountain Rifle Range, my wife Louise demonstrated her sharp skills with a 12-gauge tactical shotgun. We shot at paper targets at 25 yards with slugs, then with #00 buckshots at 1-gal water jugs. She is truly amazing with that weapon!

By Evelyn Manese We had just returned to San Diego, 2 days before 9/11 from a holiday trip to Greece and were still getting over our jet lag, when the phone rang and woke us up. Our son from La Jolla was on the phone and immediately asked us to turn on our T.V.. As Will and I fumbled and stumbled, searching for the remote control, our son continued to speak at a fast and nervous pace, describing what he was witnessing on his own T.V. When we finally got the T.V. turned on, Will exclaimed “Oh my God”, in a sullen, morose voice of distress, as he watched the 2 towers crumbled down into ashes. I felt aghast and huddled closer to grasp his hands for comfort and reassurance. New York was an old stomping ground for our family in the mid-70's to the 80's. Many memories of our young, family were rooted in the splendor and grandeur of the Big Apple. Will used to take the old, Erie Lackawanna line from New Jersey where we lived, to Hoboken. Then he catches the PATH train through the Hud...

By Myrna Ynares Celerian (chunsanit) Ten years is a long time but up to now, when I think about 9/11, I cannot help feel I was part of American history in the making, and I can vividly recall that day it happened as if it was only yesterday. I took an early retirement from the World Bank in 1998. By 2000, I decided I wanted to travel free so I worked for United Airlines (part time) from 2000 - 2003. On September 8, 9 and 10, there seems to be an endless exodus of customers, mostly arab looking or muslims as their women were all wearing the light blue burkas; whereas the Arab women were mostly covered except their eyes with black from head to foot. I remember asking one of the sales agents if there is a muslim holiday because most of those leaving Dulles International Airport in Virginia have no less than 6 largest size luggages and some even more. On Sept. 10, I was assigned to cover the economy class as they have the most number of passengers. One agent asked me to check the p...

By Loi Gillera "Courage is a contradiction in terms. It means a strong desire to live in the form of readiness to die" Leodegario Ymas Acosta is a native of Ormoc, Leyte. At 26 he was a little old to be drafted in the army. His outfit, the 24th Field Artillery Regiment, 12th Infantry Division was among the Philippine Army regulars incorporated into the United States Armed Forces Far East (USAFFE). He is a dentist. But in the battlefield of Bataan in the final week of March, 1942, Leodegario was a 1st Lieutenant doing no dentist or artillery work. He was a rifleman. The field hospital is gone. Their artilleries have no ammunition. There is only the Springfield rifle and a few cartridges of 30.06 ammo. In the nights of 28 and 29 March, 1942, Leodegario's company, fighting a rear guard action in the bounderies of Balanga and Pilar, was holding two battallions of Japanese troops. By daybreak of 30 March, all but Leodegario and his sergeant are dead or dying. Realizing the...